Cold River - Carla Neggers [74]
He fought a surge of exasperation at the same time he wanted to take her into his arms and carry her upstairs to her apartment. Toby and Devin could be there, and Dominique was down in the café kitchen with her knives and doubts about him and his motives.
Was Hannah ever alone—and how long had it been since she’d had a man in her life?
Sean watched her, acknowledging a disturbing thought. Had she gone to O’Rourke’s in March in part because she’d hoped Bowie would turn up? Now that he was back in town, was she tempted to strike up a relationship with him?
Just as well he was heading back to California in the morning. As clear-eyed as he was in business and on a fire call, he’d never been clear-eyed where Hannah Shay was concerned.
“All I’m asking,” he said, noticing a few strands of her hair slipping from her ponytail into her face, “is for you to trust me. We’re not on opposite sides.”
She looked down at her bruised wrist. “I do trust you, Sean.” Any anger and defensiveness seemed to have drained out of her. “I appreciate what you’re doing for Devin. You’ve worked hard and done well. Good for you.”
“Feel even less guilty about sending me the bill for the repairs to the cellar?”
Her eyes finally sparked with humor. “I never did feel guilty.”
“I should have known.” He laughed and tucked the stray hairs behind her ear, the bruising on her face a reminder of what was at stake if she were wrong about Bowie O’Rourke. “I’m going up to the lodge if you decide to—”
“Come clean?”
He smiled, dropping his hand back to his side. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“I have work to do here. I also promised Devin and Toby we’d do something special for dinner on their last night here.”
She seemed determined not to dampen her brothers’ excitement, but Sean saw how much she’d miss them. He wished he could think of something to say to make her feel better but just left her to her work and returned to the café dining room.
The lunch crowd had dissipated, but Rose was there, in front of a riverside window, staring down at the snow and ice. She didn’t look up as he stood next to her. “You’re a bastard, Sean, you know that?”
“That seems to be the general consensus today.”
She turned and glared at him. “Hannah’s been half in love with you since ninth grade, and you and A.J. and Elijah are all playing on that because you think she’s got some insight or information about these killers.”
“Rose, what the hell’s the matter with you?”
She didn’t seem to hear him. “You’re going to break her damn heart, Sean.”
He frowned at his sister and said nothing.
“You, Elijah and A.J. are taking your frustrations with the slow pace of the investigation out on Hannah. She’s an easy target.” Rose shifted her gaze back to the river. “You’re all bastards. All three of you.”
“Anything else?”
“You’re leaving tomorrow and taking her brothers with you. Hannah will be here alone.”
“She won’t be alone. She has you, Dominique and Beth and half the cops in town are here on a daily basis. Come on, Rose. Get a grip. Hannah’s never been alone.”
“I mean alone here. In this building. At night. She’s never lived by herself. Even when she rented a room at Judge Robinson’s, he and Ginny were around.”
“You live by yourself.”
“That’s different.” She inhaled, glancing up at him with a directness that immediately struck him as feigned, as if she were desperate to have him think she had nothing to hide. “I’m used to it.”
“Rose, what’s going on with you?”
“Other than Pop getting murdered and people blown up and shot and more killings likely in the works?”
Sean felt a jolt of fear for his sister. “Rose…what’s wrong?”
She looked back out the window, softening ever so slightly. “What’s your big hurry to get back to California?”
“I only came out here for Christmas. I stay in touch with the investigation. If I need to be back here, I’ll get on a plane. I have responsibilities there.” He tried to smile and ease the tension between them. “And it’s cold here.”
“But Hannah—”
“She’s tougher than most people